Recently I heard a news about the adulteration in banana where yellow banana peels are coated with red dye. Red banana ( Musa acuminata 'Red Dacca) origin South East Asia with red skin and a sweet in taste. Local banana vendors are selling the banana which are coated with red paint on the peel of yellow banana. This is one of the colour adulteration done in bananas. For ripening , the banana are treated with calcium carbide ( CaC2) which can leads to some health issues.Normally bananas are ripened by ethylene gas which is toxic free and safe to use.
Let me clarify the health issues associated with the use if CaC2 use as ripening agent which generates C2H2 which had similar ripening effects as C2H4 is it also generates phosphines PH3 and Arsines As H3 which are toxic.
Calcium carbide ripening is practiced in many developing countries…It doesn’t affect the taste as bananas have thick skin.Besides when you eat the banana you have to peel first…
So is it true to say that all or most bananas are ripen this way, and nothing so far is done with regard to exploring the safety of banana (especially those banana lovers who eat many in a day).
Well there might be some danger with the use of artificial ripening agents but that’s for the chemical agent , but that is critical to thin skinned fruits, but banana with often thicker skin is if least concern In all my 60 years of existence I have witnessed people eating mostly artificially ripened bananas and nobody died from it. Some country may have restrictions in its use but many of then can’t show any evidence of toxicity of the ripened bananas…
Kindly don’t generalize things even if that is what we may have seen. Because we never understood what might have happened in those villages where such exposures are high. We also know that cancer and related diseases are on the rise, though many factors related to its origin is unknown.
Yes, it is true we all consume bananas. Not all bananas have so thick skin, While the red color adulteration that was earlier mentioned is also not the yellow banana. It is a super variety (not sure of its exact scientific breed) with denser nutrients compared to ordinary banana. Its taste is also totally different from the normal yellow banana, and is much costlier than normal bananas - so they make it look red.
Unless you’re neurotic or not familiar about how the calcium carbide is used in ripening bananas…You should get worried.For me I has lived and traveled in tropical countries and it never worries me…Had seen how bananas are ripened both naturally and artificially…
FYI thin skinned bananas are not treated with carbide as the ripen easily by natural means .
Most bananas for export are not always treated with ripening agents but only for local consumption.
From observation and experience its the ignorant ones that worries about artificial ripening…
